Digital Social Hour
Harrison Hightower: From Pharmacy to CEO: My Bold Career Pivot | DSH #1510
27 Aug 2025
Chapter 1: How did Harrison Hightower transition from pharmacy to tutoring?
and put this out there and that kind of stuff because there's an element of like what are people gonna think but what are people gonna think that i've been in school for this long to be a pharmacist and now i'm doing a tutoring company and i finally realized like you just gotta quit giving a shit what people think and you gotta put yourself out there and do it but it's like then when i started winning in business then i got more confident
All right, guys, we got Harrison Hightower here today in Las Vegas, owns a tutoring company, right? Yes. Test prep. Yes. Appreciate the opportunity to be here.
Chapter 2: What are the main differences between the SAT and ACT?
Absolutely. Yeah.
Chapter 3: How are standardized tests evolving in today's educational landscape?
Yeah. I know it's an important thing for a lot of students these days to get into universities, right? Absolutely.
Chapter 4: What benefits do AI tutors offer to students?
Yeah. It's like pretty much the ACT and SAT. Those are like the big standardized tests that they use to kind of gauge, you know, student readiness for college.
Chapter 5: How can students rapidly acquire skills for standardized tests?
And a lot of universities will use that to determine merit scholarship money as well. So did you start this company because of what you went through when you were a student? Yes.
Chapter 6: What are Harrison's top book recommendations for personal growth?
So basically, you know, how I got into this whole space, you know, I grew up in Jacksonville, Alabama, which is a very small town like northeast in the state. Yeah. And, you know, to be honest with you, Sean, I went to just a very small school. rural county school. Like, man, I had like 70 people in my graduating class.
Chapter 7: How can students find fulfillment in their academic and career paths?
And I was in a situation where, you know, my parents didn't have a college fund in place to pay for me to go to school.
Chapter 8: What strategies can help build confidence in students?
And I found out in about 10th grade that as far as like the big SEC universities, if you had a certain ACT score and a GPA, they would pay a hundred percent of your tuition. And so, you know, I took the ACT for the first time as a sophomore and I made a 22 out the gate, which is like slightly above average, but nowhere near what you need to get a full ride. What is it out of?
So it goes up to a max of 36. Okay. Yes. And so at that time, back in 2014, you needed a 31 to get a full ride to Auburn. And that was kind of always my goal growing up as a kid. Like I grew up going to some Auburn football games and things like that. And I was like, man, I really want to get out of this small town and I want to go to Auburn to go to college.
And so I basically bought like five to six different strategy books and I started just learning the ins and outs of the test. Because one thing I quickly realized was like, you know, I made straight A's in school, but the normal high school curriculum did not cover the bases I needed for the ACT.
And so I basically just started doing trial and error with all these different strategies from these different companies and books. And I kind of like pulled everything together to like what I thought was the best approach to the test. And, you know, I kind of just kept testing throughout my junior year into senior year. And I just climbed the ladder from the 22.
And, you know, next test I made a 27. Next one I made a 28, 29, 31. And then I finished at a 32 composite with a 33 super score. Nice. And so that got me the full ride to Auburn. And I kind of just naturally started helping people with the test. Like my brother Reed over there, you know, he started at a 22 and I kind of helped him out as well. And he got up to a 30. Nice.
And got a really substantial scholarship as well. And so, you know, from there, when I was in school at Auburn, I kind of just naturally started helping people with a test and it just kind of grew from there. I went to school to actually become a pharmacist and, you know, basically got my undergrad and PharmD from Auburn and started the company while I was in pharmacy school in 2021.
And then when I graduated, I, you know, realized I was way more passionate about helping students and kind of felt like that was my, you know, real calling and passion. And so I kind of just went all in on the company in 2021. And, you know, we've grown, you know, a good bit since then. And I've been very blessed with everything. Well done, man. I could see the ROI, right?
Because the tuition for Auburn is how much these days? Yeah. So right now for a four-year degree at Auburn, you're probably looking at about $50,000. Is that in-state or? Yes. In-state tuition. And then out-of-state is significantly more. Yeah. Significantly more.
Like it's very common for a lot of these students, Sean, like if they're going to an out-of-state school, I mean, you're looking well into the six figures. Yeah. Yeah, so for me, if I'm a parent and I have kids that want to go to college, I'm like, okay, should I invest 5K in prep or however much it costs for the chance to save 50? Oh, yes. I think it's worth it, you know? Oh, 100%.
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